One day, while in Church, a bishop, stake president or one of the General Authorities of the Church says or does something that upsets you or that you take issue with it. Before you know it you are at odds with the Church and even resign your membership.
Taking issue is dangerous to the health of your faith.
Let’s try another example. You read something about the Church and you become upset or concerned for yourself, not for the Church. You begin, through your upset to ask questions pertaining to what you read and no answers are found to satisfy you. In a huff, you leave the Church or at the least become inactive. Since that time (which may end up as a long time) you held that grudge and upset and have not returned to the Church. In your anger, resentment, upset or disappointment, you reject the call by your home teachers or from your bishop, maybe even withdraw your fellowship from your Mormon friends.
Does this sound familiar to you?
Taking issue is dangerous to the health of your faith and will destroy everything good about it which includes the loss of the companionship of the Holy Ghost because you have accepted and taken the spirit of contention as your companion. There is no room for the Holy Ghost within you and the Holy Spirit does not fellowship or work in the same room as the spirit of contention. There is a definite high risk and danger to “taking issue”.
Read the scriptures and see the results when a person takes issue with something about the Lord or his Church. The spirit of ill faith sets in and darkness begins to seed itself into the heart. That is speaking from the position of the gospel, but let me speak from the position of life itself.
Have you been in a room or same place as another who constantly complains, harps, contends, argues, debates, with you or others and against anything else? Do you feel peace in the room or in that place? Are such aggravated people easy to speak to or interact with? Is there reasoning with this person? The answer to all of these questions is “Nay”. Such a person becomes a thorn, a bitter presence. There is no reasoning with this person, no common ground existing between you and he (or she).
Alright, you may say that he/she has a legitimate concern or beef and that is reasonable. Allow me to move this into a scenario that may just enlighten you to the true nature of taking issue.
Your marriage is with a spouse that constantly argues with you, disagrees with you and works contrary to what you do, even contrary to any believed agreement of something. How good does this marriage appear to you now? Is it joyful, peaceful, productive and does it feel like a true partnership to you? Do you see my point?
If, as you read this, say to yourself that both you and your spouse have agreement to the issue and there is no argument, but you complain to each other about what you agreed about, is there peace? The answer is still Nay and why is this? Taking issue and living and choosing from it causes a person to become hardened, even to him/herself. In such a state and person will not realize that they have fallen.
Sometimes a person needs a third neutral party to tell them that they have gone astray and they come off as hard, cold and bitter.
In all cases when a person takes issue and bites into it deeply and hard, he/she becomes ravenous. The perpetual looping state begins and this is the dark pit a person falls into. If a person begins to realize they have become dark and begin to feel the heaviness and darkness, that to them it will appear as impossible to overcome and from that, can fall again, but into despair and misery. It is truly a very dark place to be and those who are in that state, be it still battling the issue or in bitter despair will fall to all kinds of dark and evil ways. I know this to be true, both from the inside of it and as a third neutral party.
Staying in that dark place for too long, accustomization to that state begins and soon enough it will be almost impossible to get out. Ever wonder why Satan is so twisted as he is? Spiritual darkness that is filled with hate, anger, resentment, dispisement etc, has a way to contort a person’s mind. As there is no peace in Satan’s mind and heart, neither shall there be in yours if you choose to live by those issues you so dearly think are important to keep.
I have experienced the side of “taking of issue” and know that it is not good at all, irrespective of the issue. The Spirit of God is absent, there is no guidance from the Holy Ghost and darkness prevails in the process of thought. Everything becomes hard and who is really affected here? – you, the doer of taking issue is the one affected and anyone who is close to you. The Church is not affected because it will carry on and others will experience and enjoy the companionship of the Holy Ghost while you are living your choice of issue.
I have experienced the side of a neutral observer, feeling at peace with my life and the Church as I have experienced a couple who are always taking issue with things, complaining, arguing about things as a “couple” joined in issue. It is unpleasant and hard on the ears to have to constantly listen or hear bitter complaint of this or that. I can relate to their upset, yet I can also see that they have dug themselves a perpetual rut that is gradually becoming a pit. Taking issue is never a good thing and it is detrimental to faith and the Spirit of Christ that is within you.
In all this “taking of issue”, it will degrade your life and this degradation will also have an effect on your physical appearance, over time. Eventually, you can appear unkempt or in a disarray. Then your health will begin to follow this downward spiral. Your home or place of abode will begin to appear as if issue lives there with you. The sad part is that since you are immersed into the issue, in your mind and heart, issues that remain unresolved because of hate, anger, etc, you will not be able to perceive the lessening of your life unless something really obvious appears.
Order in life does not exist in the state of issue since issue is a state of “discord”. Over time, if you hold onto the pattern or practice of taking issue your face will become hardened as well. Eventually, the “spirit” of softness has long left.
Do you think I am lying about this? I say this because I have seen it happen to people I know. It is not a good sight. It was frustrating to me because of free will, I cannot choose for them, they must choose to change.
A life example of such hardness to the body is seen in those who live in “harsh” climates. Their hardness has come from outside them, with issue it comes from within, but the results are the same. Is it any wonder God used examples of life to explain the affect and meaning of his word?
Taking concern about something and being able to do something about it is not the “issue” I speak of here. This is where you have the power to deal with the issue and resolve it. The issue I speak of here that is dangerous to your faith and life is the type that you have no power to change or is the type that you carried in your own mind and heart, waiting for justification to come out, but still no means to resolve it. This type of issue is the detrimental one, the one that will destroy your faith and connection with God.
These issues are the type where you are against something in the Church, be it something read or experienced. It is something that was bred, for example, by a sour encounter with another and you continue to hold issue against him or her, even after all these months or years. It is these that seem unresolvable because they are dependent on another party and so long as that party does not change or do something about your issue, he/she, or it, will remain the focus of bitterness and resentment. The sad part is, you suffer for it, no matter how justified you claim to be.
It is hard to change once locked into the cycle of issue taking, but it is not impossible to change. With the kind of issue taking that is detrimental, it is resolvable, but only for you, not for any other. This means to resolve it happens for you by your own choices and actions. Do not expect the “other” person to accept it.
The best thing a person can do is to halt any further “issue taking” and take hold of it at the onset. Move to resolve, even if it applies just to you and seek the guidance of the Holy Ghost. The best way to resolve this issue for yourself is to act peaceably and humble thyself, irrespective of the issue and be patient with the coming of the answer. People who claim that they prayed about their issues and received no answer, only to fall deeper into the issue, are those who have failed to humble themselves to hear the Spirit of God. Do not forget the word “endure”. Taking issue from anger or hate builds a contentious rebellious heart. One day of prayer may not be sufficent to humble yourself enough for to warrant God’s intervention. Be patient endure, pray, do good and help will arrive, even if that help is to humble you.
Now, if some say that the Holy Ghost confirmed their issue and they followed the issue as if it was gospel, are those who have listened to their own ill spirit or that of Satan. The Holy Ghost does not confirm issues because it does not partake of “contention”, no matter how a person may feel justified.
Patience is a virtue and extremely important to your faith. Many a time I had to wait a long time before God gave the needed insight to resolve an issue and the main reason for this apparent delay was because I had to change first before I was ready to receive the insight or personal revelation (the seed parable applies here). Personal righteousness is paramount to keeping that door open for the Holy Ghost, even to hear him. Personal virtue is an important tool to maintain faith. Personal testimony is the most vulnerable and if this goes, so does faith.
Taking issue is destructive and some have even lost their marriages and families to divorce because of it. Marriages have died because one spouse is bent on taking issue as more important than securing the relationship. Harm to your children occurs as well. Some may think that taking issue saves the children from a wrong Church, but this is not true. A parent taking issue and living on it without resolving that issue for themselves shows a child a wicked way to live and be assured that child will suffer that practice in their adulthood as the doer of it or victim of it (I speak from my own childhood experience on this). The “tradition of the fathers”, as read in the gospel pertaining to wickedness applies here.
Stick to the things of good faith, be patient and do what is needed to resolve the issue. You cannot force another to resolve something, but you can lead yourself to peace, even if the issue remains alive elsewhere or with another. Pray often, seek the counsel of the Lord always, and as a secondary move, seek the counsel of the bishop and/or from your assigned home teacher. I will speak more about “issue”, as there is a fair amount to relate to you, but please for the sake of your faith and family, do not take issue with things that are out of your control, for Satan cannot do his work through issues that you can resolve, he will do his work through issues you cannot resolve and that is where the spirit of misery exists.
Mark